1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system having a service for following and recording athletic training achievements by recording a distance traveled and an elapsed time of travel of a mobile station held by or held on the athlete.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional methods for measuring distances covered by athletes and elapsed times of travel during training include using pedometers or odometers and stop watches or other timers. These two separate instruments require that the results be manually entered into a database for recordation and analysis.
Cellular communications systems serve service areas which are divided into cells (geographic areas). Each cell is served by a base station having an antenna and radio equipment for connecting the mobile station within a geographical area of the associated cell to a central office. As a mobile station in active conversation moves from one cell to another, the system performs a hand-off routine in which the mobile station is switched to a new communication channel with a new base station in the cell that the mobile station is entering.
To provide more efficient hand-offs and traffic management, the approximate location of the mobile station engaged in an active call needs to be known. Furthermore, cellular communication systems may also provide mobile station location service which provide the approximate location of a mobile station even if the mobile station is not engaged in an active call.
The object of the present invention is to provide a service in a mobile communication system for following and recording the time and distance traveled by a mobile station held by an athlete during training, so that the results of the training exercise are automatically recorded in a database.
The service provided by the present invention is implemented in a cellular communication network including a Core Network (CN) and a plurality of Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) with each RNC controlling at least one Base Station (BS). The CN according to the invention contains a timer, a location system, and a database. The location system may comprise any system used to locate Mobile Stations (MSs) that is accurate enough to measure distance traveled by the user. Several methods are known for locating the MS including the Time Of Arrival (TOA) method, the Enhanced Observed Time Difference (EOTD) method, the Global Positioning System (GPS) method, and the Cell Identification and Timing Advance (TA) method.
The cell ID and the TA methods use functions which are already performed by the network. The network knows the serving cell location and the timing advance value when a call is in progress. However, the serving cell ID method limits the possible location of the mobile station to within the cell coverage area, the radius of which may be 35 kilometers long. Therefore, the accuracy may not be sufficient for the purposes of the present invention. Furthermore, the TA value is only an estimate of the distance between the serving base station and the MS. Therefore, the resolution of the TA method may also be insufficient for purposes of the present invention. The cell ID method is disclosed for example in PCT Patent Application No. WO 98/19479 and the TA method is disclosed in PCT Patent Application No. WO 97/27711.
The TOA method involves a handover of the MS (including an intracell handover) during which the MS transmits access bursts. The access bursts are received at location measurement units (LMUs) which may be separate devices or integrated with the Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs). Each LMU determines the time of arrival of the access burst and transmits the determined Time Of Arrival to a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC) which may be integrated in a Base Station Controller (BSC). The difference between the TOAs and the locations of the LMUs are used to calculate the location of the MS. The disadvantages of this method are that (1) the LMUs must know which channel to measure which requires coordination in the network and generates extra signaling load and (2) The TOA requires that the LMUs have a common clock.
In the E-OTD method, the MS receives signals from BTSs and determines the time differences between receptions, i.e. the Observed Time Difference. Since the MS performs the measurement, the BTSs do not have to be synchronized. The E-OTD method requires that either the BTSs transmit simultaneously or that the timing differences between them are known. Examples of the OTD method are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,925, EP 0 930 513 and WO 92/05672, each of these using Real Time Difference (RTD) between the BTSs to determine the location of the MS.
The GPS method is a satellite based location system and requires that a GPS receiver be integrated into the handset. However, the conventional GPS requires line-of-sight to at least three satellites which may cause problems indoors and in urban areas. The accuracy of the GPS system can be within 5 meters. The disadvantages of GPS are a higher handset cost, increased power consumption, and ergonomic problems for integrating a GPS antenna into a handset.
The location service according to the present invention may be based on any mobile telephone service such as, for example, a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) based service or Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS). Instead of mobile telephones, any handheld wireless device may be used in a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) based service such as, for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a beeper.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the user first sets parameters using the MS and sets the service into an xe2x80x9cactivexe2x80x9d state. When predetermined start measurement criteria are entered on the MS or are otherwise fulfilled, the service begins measurement of the distance traveled and the elapsed time. The results are collected and sent to the database in the CN and to the MS. The measurement and collection of distance and time data continue until predetermined stop measurement criteria are entered on the MS or otherwise fulfilled. At that point, measurements are stopped and the service saves the results in the CN and sends the results, for example, to the MS.
The user first uses the MS to select the athletic training achievement recording service from the list of services available to the user. The parameters which may be set include a database destination so that the user can select where to send the results of the measurement. The choices may comprise a service provider database, MS database, another MS, or an e-mail address. The user may also set how the measurements are to be started or stopped. The service may be manually started and stopped or automatically started and stopped. The automatic start/stop may be place-dependent, time-dependent, or traveled-distance-dependent. The user may also choose the type of display on the MS such as, for example, real-time display, periodic display, or place-dependent display.
The service may be used by athletic coaches to monitor the performance of his athletes during training. Instead of running or jogging, other sports such as bicycling, skiing, skating, and sailing may also be monitored. The service provider may host different competitions in which users collect achievements for a period of time such as, for example, a month and provide prizes for the further distance traversed, most improved on a specific course, etc.
This service may additionally be used to monitor the movements of cars and trucks as a tachograph. This may be useful for the owner of a fleet of trucks or cars for automatically tracking the distance traveled for each truck or car and for determining where the trucks or cars are located at any point or points in time.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity, in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawing and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.